Policies

Please leash your pet before entering the clinic.*

For the safety of your pet, all pets and people, we implore every person to have leash control over their pet before entering the clinic. Most dogs that enter unleashed are “nice” but many pets waiting in the lobby may be nervous and defensive. When a curious dog runs into the lobby, there is a chance that a nervous dog on a leash will lash out because it feels threatened or protective of its owner. Veterinary offices are not the ideal place for socializing pets. Please think about our little feline patients as well. Cats usually become very stressed when they are in a foreign environment and we do everything we can to make the veterinary experience less stressful. The last thing a cat needs before its exam is for a large dog to come running up to it, whether it is in a carrier or not.  Lastly, there may be contagions of which we are not yet aware. We ask all that all possibly contagious pets be kept in the car so we can assess their level of contagion. However, sometimes an owner will walk-in with a pet that is contagious before giving any details over the phone.  For all of the above reasons, the safest thing to do is have your pet on a leash before entering the clinic.

*If you forget a leash, we have slip leads hanging just to your right when you enter the building.

Appointments

To allow ample time for all patients and scheduled surgical procedures, we operate primarily by appointment. Emergency cases shall always receive top priority, which is why occasional appointment delay is inevitable. Please realize that we make a sincere attempt to see each client on time.

Drop-off Appointments

For your convenience and a small fee, drop-off’ appointments are available.  A ‘drop off’ means you could bring your pet at the time that works best for you and leave him/her with us for a couple of hours. Usually we will ask you to drop off’ sometime in the morning so our doctors can examine the patient in between appointments or at the time purposely reserved for admitted patients. Once the doctor is done, he or she will give you a call to go over the diagnosis and to give you discharge instructions.
For the safety of all animals in our care, we prefer that all vaccinations be up to date.

We will also offer a drop-off appointment when we are completely booked for our regular appointment times. We will never turn away a patient needing to be seen.

We often recommend drop-off appointments when we anticipate an appointment requiring more time than the allotted and available 30-minute appointment.  Patients requiring radiographs, in-house blood testing, likely I.V. fluids, etc… are examples of ideal drop-off appointments.

Annual Examinations and Prescriptions

According to the law, a veterinarian must have a current relationship with each patient for them to be allowed to prescribe OR dispense medication for that pet. This means that if you think your pet needs a certain medication but we have not physically examined your pet within a year, we are legally not permitted to prescribe any medications for your pet. It also means that we are not permitted to sell any prescription medications to a patient that we have never examined. Frequently visitors who are passing through, will ask if their regular vet can “call in” a prescription for us to fill. Since we are not a licensed pharmacy, we are not permitted to fill a prescription medication for a patient with whom we do not have a relationship. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

Payment Policy

We require full payment at the time that services are rendered for all elective procedures. This means for all procedures that are not emergent. For your convenience, we accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Care Credit, cash and personal checks.

For emergencies, we prefer full payment at the time that services are rendered.  If you are not able to pay the full balance, we will request that you apply for Care Credit.  You can follow this link to apply online: Apply for Care Credit

What is Care Credit?

At PKC, Care Credit is a 12-month, interest-free line of credit that can be used for veterinary services. It can also be used for dental  and cosmetic services, with differing time periods and interest rates.

If you apply and are not approved for Care Credit, we require at least half of the estimated procedure cost at the time of service. For the remaining balance, you will be asked to complete our Payment Plan which will require that you leave checks or a credit card number for us to process for agreed upon amounts on agreed upon dates.